Devices for holding Christmas trees and the like in an upright position are well known in the art. The following are examples of such prior art Christmas tree holders.
U.S. Pat Nos. 1,505,357 and 1,528,883, both to Lindquist, disclose a holder for trees and the like which includes a cone supported by legs, and springs which are secured to the inside surface of the cone. In operation, a tree butt is inserted into the cone, and the cone in conjunction with the springs serve as "resilient tree trunk centering means".
U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,028 to Purdy discloses a tree holder including an elongated container supported by legs, and resilient gripping elements secured to the inner side of the container for engaging the butt of a tree inserted in the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,732,284 to Schulze discloses a tree holder including supporting legs, upper and lower rings, and leaf-springs provided between the upper and lower rings. The leaf-springs serve to hold a tree trunk, inserted through the rings, in an upright position.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,772,693 to Dorin discloses a tree holder including a cup member and inwardly bowed portions for gripping a tree trunk inserted in the cup member.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,421,140 to Blaner discloses a Christmas tree stand including a cylindrical member and screws. The tree trunk is clamped in the cylindrical member by means of the screws.
The prior art tree holders discussed above all have a relatively complex design, thereby making these tree holders difficult and time-consuming to assemble. In particular, most of the various springs and other resilient gripping elements of these prior art tree holders must be individually attached by screws and bolts.
In an attempt to overcome these shortcomings of the prior art tree holders, the tree trunk gripping adapters shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 were developed. These adapters were designed to be used with a supported cylindrical member. Each of these gripping adapters includes an open space at the center thereof through which a tree is inserted. The adapters of FIGS. 1 and 2 obviate the need for separately bolted resilient springs or other gripping elements. However, the designs of the adapters shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have not been effective in practice. In particular, the adapter designs of FIGS. 1 and 2 have not been sufficiently resilient to accommodate and hold a plurality of different sized and shaped tree trunks. This is a serious shortcoming because it is rare that the trunk of a Christmas tree used during a given year has the same size and shape as the trunk of a Christmas tree used during the preceding or next year.
FIG. 3 shows a further prior art Christmas tree holder/stand which has been widely used, and is perhaps the most popular of all Christmas tree holders presently available. The Christmas tree holder/stand of FIG. 3 is of relatively simple design, and can be easily assembled. Referring to FIG. 3, the Christmas tree holder includes a cup member 2 having an outer lip edge portion 2a and a spike (not shown) disposed at the bottom center thereof, four support legs 4 which are hinged to the lip edge portion 2a, and an annular member 6 which is disposed on, and is supported by, the legs 4. The annular member 6 includes four holes 8 and four screws (not shown) are provided when purchasing this Christmas tree holder.
In operation, a tree butt is inserted through the annular member 6 so that the bottom of the tree butt engages the spike. The four screws are then screwed into the tree trunk through the four holes 8 to hold the tree in an upright position. In order to remove the tree, the four screws are unscrewed from the tree trunk, thereby allowing the tree to be removed from the tree stand.
Although the tree stand shown in FIG. 3 is of relatively simple design and has enjoyed much commercial success, it has shortcomings in operation. More specifically, when positioning the tree in the tree holder, it is difficult to screw the screws into the tree trunk. For larger trees, the screws must be screwed deep into the tree trunk to adequately hold and position the tree. This often cannot be accomplished by hand, and therefor pliers must be used to grip the screws as they are screwed into the tree trunk. Further, to remove the tree, the screws must be unscrewed from the tree trunk. Accordingly, the same problems encountered when screwing the screws into the tree are present when the screws are unscrewed from the tree.